‘Poor indeed is the garden
in which birds find no home’ - Abram L. Urban
A public discussion was
organized by Toxics Link in an attempt to understand the question of
disappearing sparrows of Delhi at the India International Centre, New Delhi on
May 8, 2012. The event encompassed a film screening and a panel discussion
moderated by Ravi Aggarwal, Director, Toxics Link. While experts discussed the
reasons for the decline, the key question was whether the 'loss' of sparrows
and other birds we once took for granted, is a sign of other changes in our
environment?
The film “Beyond the mirage” directed by
Nutan Manmohan, (produced by PSBT), examined the ensuing battle for food and
habitat in Delhi among the small and big birds that throng the city. It also
documents the predicament of smaller birds, like sparrows, which are fast loosing
this war against bigger predators. The house sparrow, once the exemplar of a
commonplace bird, is not so common any longer in cities like Delhi. Once
chirping happily in our backyards, the sparrows are hardly noticeable these
days unlike some other birds such as pigeons that are seen in plenty.
The film depicts how 25 per cent of birds in
India have gone extinct since 2008 because of lack of nesting places and loss
of micro eco-systems. It shows how the significance of sparrows’ has been
undermined without realising that the survival of big exotic birds is dependent
on the presence of small birds like sparrows. The increase in the
population of dogs and scavengers like crows and kites due to the feed that
they receive from urban people is detrimental to the house sparrow. It
documents the consequences that this has for small birds such as sparrows,
which are fast losing this war against bigger predators. Dogs scare the birds
away while crows, being very aggressive end up eating the sparrows’ eggs.
Dr Surya Prakash who specializes in Zoology
at School of Life Sciences in Jawaharlal Nehru University and is a passionate
bird watcher, charted a steep decline in the population of sparrows and held
human beings responsible for the disappearance of sparrows. During the past 25
years, the sparrow population in the country has plummeted by 50 per cent. The
decline in the state of Andhra Pradesh is highest at around 80 per cent,
mirroring severe decline in numbers of the bird across the other states.
“House sparrows live in groups and feed on
grains, insects, kitchen scrap and flower buds. They prefer thatched houses and
bungalows to concrete structures such as flats to build their nests. They lay
3-5 eggs at a time barring no season.” (Deccan Herald, 2004)
There has been a remarkable decline and the
worry is that their population will crash down to a level where it is no longer
sustainable.
Changing human lifestyles, climate change,
loss of micro habitats (wetland bird areas, shrub vegetation etc.,),
architectural changes leading to decreasing spots to lay eggs, changes in
agricultural patterns, proliferation of predator birds, microwave towers,
excessive use of pesticides are some of the human induced changes that have led
to a decrease in the population of sparrows, according to Prakash. Our homes
and buildings these days do not have ventilators to leave enough space to the
sparrows to build their nests, he said. The scarcity of insects and grains
which serve as protein supplements for the young ones of sparrows is a major
cause of their decline.
Dr. Koustubh Sharma, Senior Regional
Ecologist-Snow Leopard Trust and Co-investigator, BNHS-Citizen Sparrow Project
discussed how formerly, miners used to carry canaries down into the mines with
them. If the canaries showed signs of distress it indicated that there were
poisonous gases in the air, and the miners would immediately leave the mine.
Like snow leopards which are considered
indicators of climate and environmental changes at higher altitudes, sparrows,
a star species are indicators of such changes in the urban ecosystem. Hence
they can be regarded as the snow leopard of the urban ecosystem, noted Sharma.
So, if sparrows of Delhi are dwindling it could be warning to its residents.
Either air pollution levels could be rising dangerously or the grains could be
containing alarming dosages of pesticides. Indeed sparrows can be used as
bio-monitors to detect urban metal pollution.
Because of lack of research and
understanding, the reasons for the vanishing of sparrows are still unknown. We
still lack a large scale systematic community that pools in information on
species, he noted.
Sensitising citizens for protecting sparrows,
Sharma highlighted the Citizen Sparrow Project that aims at creating a constituency for
sparrows among the citizens in India. A joint initiative by the Bombay
Natural History Society and Ministry
of Environment and Forests, the
project invited inputs from citizens on the sightings of sparrows and has
received a good response - 7461 contributions from 4701 people at 6019
locations in India. It will ultimately help in estimating the cause of decline
of sparrow population, he added.
According to Neeraj Khera, Technical Expert –
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) “since sparrows
are sensitive to changes in the environment, they serve as an important
bio-indicator for a healthy urban ecosystem, indirectly indicating human
health, and their decline today has started resulting in increasing diseases among
the people”.
People in urban areas are often seen feeding
grains to rock pigeons. Due to availability of enough food there has been an
over-explosion of their population. These pigeons are now occupying the nesting
spaces of sparrows, as a result of which the sparrow population has drastically
reduced in urban areas in the country. The growing numbers of rock pigeons
has created an imbalance among the species and they now dominate the bird
population, according to Khera.
Delhi has 15,000-20,000 green spaces today,
but because of their smaller sizes, these are unable to support larger habitat
diversity and provide ecological services. Inter-connecting of such small
patches is needed to reintroduce the lost habitat, she said. Because sparrows
have not declined below the threshold limit in Delhi, we can still afford to
bring them back through proper conservation practices.
Due to decrease in numbers, a bird as common
as the sparrow was included by the IUCN in its Red Data List of threatened
species in 2002 alongside the glamorous snow leopard, tiger and red panda.
The discussion suggested that awareness can
be raised regarding the plight of the sparrow and sites earmarked as safe
havens for the birds. To hear the chirping again people can take small steps such
as placing wooden or earthen homes, feeding them, putting water pots for them,
planting trees and discouraging use of pesticides.
Bird lovers in Mumbai are providing shelters like wooden boxes on trees, which
can be used as nests by sparrows. Sanctuaries too can be created across urban
spaces to help save the dwindling population of house sparrows.